The free will defense addresses moral evil—evil resulting from free choices. But what about natural evil—earthquakes, diseases, predation, and natural disasters? No human chose to create cancer or cause tsunamis. How can a good God permit suffering that doesn't result from human freedom? The Christian answer points to the Fall—the cosmic catastrophe that affected not only humanity but all of creation. Understanding the Fall helps us see natural evil in a different light.
The Challenge of Natural Evil
Natural evil poses distinct challenges:
It seems purposeless. A fawn suffers in a forest fire with no witnesses and no apparent benefit. Diseases strike randomly. Natural disasters show no discrimination between innocent and guilty.
It predates humanity. The fossil record shows predation, disease, and death before humans existed. If natural evil results from the Fall, how do we explain millions of years of animal suffering?
It's built into nature. Earthquakes result from plate tectonics; diseases from microorganisms; predation from food chains. These aren't aberrations but features of how nature works. Did God design nature to include suffering?
The free will defense doesn't directly address these issues. We need additional resources.
Two Questions
When addressing natural evil, we face two distinct questions:
The philosophical question: Why would a good God create or permit a world with natural evil?
The biblical question: What does Scripture teach about the origin and meaning of natural evil?
Both questions deserve answers. A philosophically adequate response must also align with biblical teaching.
The Biblical Framework: Creation, Fall, Redemption
Scripture provides a framework for understanding natural evil through the narrative of creation, fall, and redemption:
Creation: "Very Good"
God's original creation was "very good" (Genesis 1:31). This doesn't necessarily mean perfect in every possible sense, but it was well-suited to God's purposes—a fitting home for His image-bearers, a temple for His presence, a stage for human flourishing.
The exact nature of the pre-Fall world is debated. Some envision a world without animal death or suffering; others suggest death existed but was natural rather than tragic. What's clear is that creation was not yet subject to the "bondage to corruption" Paul describes in Romans 8.
The Fall: Cosmic Consequences
When Adam and Eve rebelled, the consequences extended beyond themselves. The ground was cursed (Genesis 3:17-19). Creation was subjected to futility and bondage (Romans 8:20-22). Death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12).
The Fall was a cosmic catastrophe—not merely a human moral failure but an event that affected all of reality. Creation, designed to be humanity's home, shared in humanity's fate. The entire cosmos groans under the weight of sin's effects.
"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now."
— Romans 8:20-22 (ESV)
Redemption: All Things New
God's redemptive plan includes not just humanity but all creation. The final vision is not disembodied souls in heaven but "new heavens and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1)—creation renewed, restored, liberated from its bondage. Natural evil, like moral evil, is temporary—destined for elimination in God's completed kingdom.
How the Fall Addresses Natural Evil
If natural evil results from the Fall, several implications follow:
Natural Evil Is Not God's Original Design
God didn't create a world full of suffering and call it good. The world's current state reflects corruption, not creation. Earthquakes, cancer, and tsunamis are not features of God's ideal design but consequences of a fallen world.
This doesn't mean God didn't know the Fall would happen or couldn't have prevented it. But it places the responsibility for evil on creatures who misused their freedom, not on the Creator's design.
Natural Evil Connects to Human Responsibility
The Fall connects natural evil to human choice. Adam was given dominion over creation; when he fell, creation fell with him. This doesn't mean every earthquake punishes specific sins, but it does mean natural evil exists in a world cursed by human rebellion.
This connection may seem unfair—why should nature suffer for human sin? But it reflects the interconnectedness of reality. Humans were not isolated individuals but cosmic priests, mediating between God and creation. When the priests fell, the temple (creation) suffered.
Natural Evil Is Temporary
Because natural evil results from the Fall, it will be eliminated in the restoration. The curse will be lifted; creation will be liberated; suffering will cease. Natural evil is not an eternal feature of reality but a temporary condition of the current age.
Philosophical Considerations
Beyond the biblical framework, philosophical considerations help address natural evil:
Natural Laws and Regular Environment
For free creatures to exercise meaningful choices, they need a regular, predictable environment. If gravity sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, if fire sometimes burned and sometimes healed, rational action would be impossible. We couldn't plan, predict, or learn from experience.
Natural laws—including plate tectonics, disease organisms, and weather patterns—provide this regularity. But regular laws have unintended consequences: tectonic plates that enable Earth's habitability also cause earthquakes; microorganisms essential for life can also cause disease.
God could constantly intervene to prevent harmful effects of natural laws, but this would undermine the regularity that makes meaningful life possible. A world of constant miracles would be chaotic, unpredictable, and hostile to rational agency.
Richard Swinburne's Argument
Philosopher Richard Swinburne argues that natural evil serves important purposes:
Knowledge: Natural evil teaches us about consequences. We learn that fire burns, that diseases spread, that certain actions are dangerous. This knowledge is essential for meaningful choice.
Opportunity for virtue: Natural evil creates opportunities for compassion, courage, and self-sacrifice. Without suffering to relieve, there would be no compassion; without danger, no courage.
Serious choices: In a world where nothing bad could happen, choices wouldn't matter much. Natural evil gives weight to our decisions—the stakes are real.
The Greater-Good Theodicy
Natural evil may serve greater goods we cannot fully perceive. The universe is vastly complex; we see only fragments of God's purposes. Events that seem pointless in isolation may serve purposes visible only from an eternal perspective.
This isn't a specific explanation of each evil but a reason for epistemic humility. Given our limited knowledge, we shouldn't expect to see God's reasons for every permitted evil. The absence of visible purpose doesn't mean there is no purpose.
Soul-Making
Philosopher John Hick proposed that the world is a "soul-making" environment—designed not for maximum comfort but for moral and spiritual development. Natural evil provides challenges that shape character, develop virtues, and enable growth.
A world without challenges would be like a life without exercise—comfortable but stunting. The difficulties we face, including natural evils, may serve our ultimate flourishing even when they don't serve our immediate comfort.
Challenging Questions
What About Animal Suffering Before the Fall?
The fossil record shows animal death and predation long before humans existed. How does the Fall account for this?
Several approaches are possible:
Young-earth view: The fossil record doesn't predate humanity; both were created recently. Animal death before the Fall is simply rejected.
Retroactive effects: The Fall, though occurring in history, had effects that rippled backward as well as forward in time. This is philosophically possible but unusual.
Anticipatory corruption: God, foreknowing the Fall, created a world already suited to fallen conditions. Creation's "very good" was appropriate for God's purposes, which included the Fall and redemption.
Different spheres: Animal death before the Fall was natural and non-tragic; the Fall introduced death as enemy, tragic, and tied to judgment. What changed was not the physical fact but the spiritual meaning.
Angelic fall: Perhaps a prior angelic rebellion corrupted creation before humans were created. Satan's fall may have affected the natural world before Adam's fall affected humanity.
No consensus exists among Christians. What's essential is not the precise mechanism but the conviction that current suffering is not God's final word—redemption is coming.
Isn't Blaming Humans for Natural Evil Unfair?
Why should earthquakes exist because Adam sinned? The connection seems arbitrary.
Several considerations:
Interconnectedness: Humans were not isolated individuals but cosmic representatives. Adam's role as head of humanity and steward of creation meant his choices had cosmic significance. This is foreign to our individualistic culture but reflects biblical anthropology.
Solidarity: Scripture presents humanity as a corporate entity, not merely a collection of individuals. We're connected to Adam; his fall affected us. Similarly, creation is connected to humanity; our fall affected it.
Mystery: We may not fully understand the connection between human sin and natural evil. But inability to explain a mechanism doesn't disprove a connection. Many real connections remain mysterious to us.
"Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you."
— Genesis 3:17-18
Why Doesn't God Just Fix It Now?
If natural evil results from the Fall, and God can undo the Fall's effects, why wait?
God's timing: God is patient, "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). The delay allows more people to be saved.
The story isn't over: We're living in the middle of the narrative. The Fall introduced conflict; redemption is unfolding; consummation is coming. The current age of suffering is not the conclusion but a chapter.
Purposes we don't see: God may have reasons for the timing that we cannot perceive. Given our limited perspective, we shouldn't assume we know when the optimal time for restoration would be.
Natural Evil and the Cross
Christianity's most profound response to natural evil is not philosophical argument but the cross of Christ.
In Christ, God entered the world of natural evil. He experienced hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and pain. He submitted to a natural body that could be broken. The Creator became subject to the suffering of His own creation.
The cross shows that God is not distant from our suffering but has entered into it. He doesn't explain suffering from outside but addresses it from within. Whatever His reasons for permitting natural evil, He has shown His love by sharing in it.
And the resurrection shows that natural evil is not final. Death itself—the ultimate natural evil—has been defeated. The resurrection is the "firstfruits" of creation's liberation, the promise that all who are in Christ will share in the victory over suffering and death.
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
— Revelation 21:4 (ESV)
Practical Responses
How can we respond to natural evil in practice?
Acknowledge the difficulty. Don't minimize suffering or pretend to have easy answers. Natural evil is genuinely terrible and raises hard questions. Honest acknowledgment builds credibility.
Present the biblical framework. Help people see that natural evil fits within the larger story of creation, fall, and redemption. It's not meaningless randomness but part of a narrative heading toward restoration.
Point to the cross. God's ultimate response to suffering is not explanation but incarnation. He entered our suffering in Christ, bore it on the cross, and conquered it in resurrection. This is our hope.
Emphasize hope. Natural evil is temporary. The world is groaning now, but liberation is coming. Christians live with hope that others do not have—the assurance that suffering will end and joy will be eternal.
Serve practically. Our response to natural evil should be not just theoretical but practical. Christians are called to relieve suffering, serve victims, and embody Christ's compassion in the face of disaster and disease.
Conclusion: Groaning Toward Glory
Natural evil is a profound challenge, but Christianity offers profound resources for addressing it. The biblical narrative of creation, fall, and redemption provides a framework: the current state of nature is not God's original design or final intention but a temporary condition resulting from cosmic rebellion and heading toward cosmic restoration.
Philosophical considerations—the need for natural regularity, soul-making, and greater goods—add to the biblical framework without replacing it. Together, they suggest that natural evil, though terrible, is not incompatible with God's existence or goodness.
But the deepest response is not argument but presence—God's presence with us in suffering through Christ, and our presence with each other through the body of Christ. We do not suffer alone; we suffer with a God who has gone before us, who groans with creation, and who will one day wipe away every tear.
The creation groans—but it groans in hope. And so do we.
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
— Romans 8:18 (ESV)
Discussion Questions
- How does the biblical framework of creation-fall-redemption help us understand natural evil? What does Romans 8:20-22 teach about creation's current condition and future hope?
- The lesson presents several approaches to animal suffering before the Fall (young-earth, retroactive effects, anticipatory corruption, different spheres, angelic fall). Which approach do you find most plausible? Why?
- How does the cross serve as God's ultimate response to natural evil? Why might this "response of presence" be more satisfying than philosophical explanations alone?